Government
facilities for
housing employees.
Employees
of European Firms.
British
employees in Naval Yard.
Housing of Government Servants.
General
cheap sale of Crown land,
with restrictions,
112
* 26. We recommend that the Government should sell land cheap and without auction to large employers of workmen for the sole purpose of housing their employees, with a condition for the forfeiture of the land to the Government if the premises are used for other purposes.
27. In this connection we invite attention to the circular dated the 27th April, 1923, which we have addressed, with the approval of the Government, to certain European firms on the subject of the housing of their employees, and the answers received thereto (Enclosure 2). From the latter it will be seen that a large number of firms have signified their readiness to assist, if afforded proper facilities by the Government.
28. Whilst on the subject of housing employees we desire to refer to the serious inadequacy of the accommodation at present provided by the Admiralty for the employees of His Majesty's Naval Yard. We have had the opportunity of taking full statements, which accompany this report (Enclosure 8(1)), from four of such employees. That evidence shows--
(1) That the Admiralty provide quarters for only a comparatively
small number of the employees in the Naval Yard.
(2) That under a 3 years' agreement, which expired on the 31st July, 1923, the Hongkong Government allowed Dockyard employees to occupy 6 houses in Happy Valley with two floors to each house, but that such quarters were required by the Hongkong Government to be handed back for the housing of Civil Servants on the expiration of such agreement, thereby accentuating the housing difficulty for Dockyard employees referred to in (3), and compelling them to live over in Kowloon.
(3) That it is impracticable, under the present conditions of housing shortage prevailing in Hongkong, for British married Dockyard employees, apart from those referred to in paragraph (1) supra, and those housed in Togo Terrace, Kennedy Road, and in a few other favourable localities, to obtain decent accommodation near their work at a rent which is reasonable, having regard to their income and their house allowance.
(4) That in Gibraltar where there is a larger Dockyard staff than in Hongkong, the Admiralty, as far back as 1907, built quarters for their Dockyard employees, both single and married.
* 29. We recommend that the Admiralty should emulate the example of the Hongkong Government and the Military Authorities and the Gibraltar precedent by providing ample house accommodation for the employees of the Naval Yard, many of whom are now being driven, from sheer force of circumstances, across the Harbour to Kowloon, to an inconvenient distance from their work, and are incidentally competing with permanent civilian residents for available European accommodation at Kowloon.
* 30 We would also commend to the favourable consideration of the Government the question of building houses for accommodating Government servants of all races and grades, charging them a reasonable rent.
31. In addition to selling land cheap for erecting houses thereon for accommodating employees, we recommend that the Government should also sell land cheap, without auction, and subject to certain restrictions hereinafter mentioned, to encourage the erection of more houses for accommodating diffe- rent classes of the community at reasonable rents. There can be no doubt that the cost of Crown land is the most serious factor in connection with the cost of building in the Colony, because obviously the high cost of land inevi- tably entails both dear buildings and high rents, which tends to hold back building development, (see Mr. White's evidence at page 15 in Enclosure 8 (3)).